2 years in Caribbean....where to start?

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

From a cruising perspective it's hard not to like the Western Caribbean over the Eastern Caribbean. On average the sailing is better or less challenging in the Eastern Caribbean but the costs are much higher and to our view it's not anywhere as interesting as the Western Caribbean. The food or choice of high quality fruits and vegetables at low prices are much better/cheaper in the West. There is very extensive and interesting land travel in the west and less cruisers. Diving is on average much better and the people are wonderful.

However there are always alternate views. Very good friends of ours that spent 9 years cruising both the eastern and western carribean absolutely disliked the west. In thier words, it was 3rd world and corrupt and they have no interest in going back.

Thats the thing, everyone experinces places different. Hell I have felt one way about a place, then changed that view when I revisited in 6 months. At this point, I pay very little head to opinions of others. However we do watch the official crime reports and pay some attention to those!

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by travellerw

However there are always alternate views. Very good friends of ours that spent 9 years cruising both the eastern and western carribean absolutely disliked the west. In thier words, it was 3rd world and corrupt and they have no interest in going back.

Thats the thing, everyone experinces places different. Hell I have felt one way about a place, then changed that view when I revisited in 6 months. At this point, I pay very little head to opinions of others. However we do watch the official crime reports and pay some attention to those!

I couldn't agree more, we all have different opinions as we see things in a different light. I know there have been boardings here off Honduras as we had friends boarded about a month ago. It's unfortunate and we really felt sorry for them but they traveled in an area that has a good reputation for boardings, yes it was shorter to go the way they did but they sure paid a price for it. We both found the Eastern Caribbean as great sailing and pretty islands but very little on the culture side which is completely normal given the history. The West is chock full and very deep in culture which we both love but again our opinion.
If sailing is top of the list then the East is a better choice because of the wind and islands layout. Your not going to enjoying a really nice lunch for $2.00 as we did in Colombia in the East and you won't be sitting in the pedestrian only back streets listening to great singers and musicians and enjoying great food and fine wine for a few bucks.You can't travel to the Myan ruins or visit the ex capital of the whole of central America in all its splendor, get involved in the dozens of festivals that are constantly happening although we did enjoy Carnival in Grenada. There is no comparison if you enjoy a unique cultural experience and there is no comparison in the price or quality of fruits and vegetables and only Bonaire can even come close to the quality of diving. Bonaire actually isn't in the Eastern chain. Those are our opinions and we have traveled from the East down to Venezuela, the ABC's, Colombia, San Blas, Panama and eventually Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. The only place we would really enjoy going back to is Bonaire. So having said all that we enjoyed our time in the East, met lots of lovely people and had good times. But for us our experience in the West has been more rewarding. When you get first hand experience it would be interesting to hear your opinion.

[mpomerance]

Originally Posted by YesIsail

I have been sailing for years all over the Caribbean and can say that its a fact that the vast majority of boats that get into problems on the anchorages in the Caribbean have owners who think they are back where they came from and dont adapt to the new circumstances, they show arrogance or do not collaborate with the locals and their community, plus they come to the Caribbean already afraid, paranoid and too stubborn to get the message.



Be respectful to the locals and show gratitude for being in their beautiful land and sea, this way you will mot likely not get into any problems, of course there are some hot areas and crazy people, but in your country is the same.

Thank you so much.

[mpomerance]

Originally Posted by travellerw

Cheers I will definately head over there... We have a hand grinder on board.



Now be carefull about sayin "Beans are dirt cheap in the Caribbean".. Yes beans are fairly cheap (wouldn't say dirt cheap compared to Canada) in Sint Maarten. I have not found ANY other islands where they are cheap. Antigua, Grenada, SVG, St Lucia, Martinique... Every one of those islands had very expensive coffee beans. Example, in Grenada 750 grams of beans ran between $30-40EC. That price is pretty comparable to the other islands I mentioned. With 2 heavy coffee drinkers aboard, coffee became a much bigger expense than I thought it would.



Anyway... Back to the OP. There is a nice Island Spirit here in St. Martin that is priced very well. On that same train of thought, there are tons of boats around the VIs. Buying one down here would save you the Thorny path which obviously some people find harder than others. Buying one down here, cruising the islands and then taking it back up would be a pretty good option. Going back up is easy and pleasant. Just some food for thought.



Mark's suggestion of I65 is a something to consider, as well as the "Thinking Path". However we have met cruisers that have done both of those and claimed to have had a rough go. However what is rough to one sailor, may not be rough to another.



Thats another suggestion I will make. Everyone has different tolerances and abilities. We know cruisers that have no problem going out in 8-10ft seas and others that will not go unless its under 4ft (they wait a long time for windows). Find what works for you and stick to it. Don't let others pressure or shame you for your level of comfort. Its your boat, your crew and your call. Just know it pretty easy to get all comfy in a snuggly anchorage and never go!

So true on the stay in your comfort zone. Also interesting idea on buying a sailboat down south already. Thank you!

[mpomerance]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

I couldn't agree more, we all have different opinions as we see things in a different light. I know there have been boardings here off Honduras as we had friends boarded about a month ago. It's unfortunate and we really felt sorry for them but they traveled in an area that has a good reputation for boardings, yes it was shorter to go the way they did but they sure paid a price for it. We both found the Eastern Caribbean as great sailing and pretty islands but very little on the culture side which is completely normal given the history. The West is chock full and very deep in culture which we both love but again our opinion.

If sailing is top of the list then the East is a better choice because of the wind and islands layout. Your not going to enjoying a really nice lunch for $2.00 as we did in Colombia in the East and you won't be sitting in the pedestrian only back streets listening to great singers and musicians and enjoying great food and fine wine for a few bucks.You can't travel to the Myan ruins or visit the ex capital of the whole of central America in all its splendor, get involved in the dozens of festivals that are constantly happening although we did enjoy Carnival in Grenada. There is no comparison if you enjoy a unique cultural experience and there is no comparison in the price or quality of fruits and vegetables and only Bonaire can even come close to the quality of diving. Bonaire actually isn't in the Eastern chain. Those are our opinions and we have traveled from the East down to Venezuela, the ABC's, Colombia, San Blas, Panama and eventually Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. The only place we would really enjoy going back to is Bonaire. So having said all that we enjoyed our time in the East, met lots of lovely people and had good times. But for us our experience in the West has been more rewarding. When you get first hand experience it would be interesting to hear your opinion.

Great thoughts by all. Thank you for your opinions!

[Cheechako]

To me the Bahamas are the absolute best of the E. Caribe. Start your trip to spend plenty of time there and still wait out hurricane season in Grenada or Trinidad. Be sure to get to the seldom visited parts of the Bahamas, not just the beaten path,. Many who head south from Georgetown just go for the DR quickly as possible. Lots down there not visited much.
If you don't like snorkeling , isolation, exploring etc then that's what I like about the Bahamas. So you may like busier and more tourist oriented places more.

[mpomerance]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

To me the Bahamas are the absolute best of the E. Caribe. Start your trip to spend plenty of time there and still wait out hurricane season in Grenada or Trinidad. Be sure to get to the seldom visited parts of the Bahamas, not just the beaten path,. Many who head south from Georgetown just go for the DR quickly as possible. Lots down there not visited much.
If you don't like snorkeling , isolation, exploring etc then that's what I like about the Bahamas. So you may like busier and more tourist oriented places more.

Many thanks.

[Idylles15.5]

Originally Posted by boatman61

You tell em MarkJ.. just cannot understand all the anal palpitations our tough guy US cousins suffer from regarding the Caribbean.. assault/theft risks are no greater than the South Coast, UK and less than the USA.
I knew a German who's favourite saying was.. "A man is not a man without a knife..!!"
Guess Yanks suffer from a similar feeling of 'Emasculation'..

I know this is off topic, but you should keep some of your comments to yourself. My Father served under General MacArthur in the Japanese theater, and my Uncle took three machine gun slugs to his leg taking out a German bunker to save some guys in the Bulge under Patton. Us tough guys as you mentioned filled a few cemeteries over in Europe saving your asses twice. This is a sailing forum, not a bash the US forum. You a have something smug to say until your in trouble, then it's HELP.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by Idylles15.5

I know this is off topic, but you should keep some of your comments to yourself. My Father served under General MacArthur in the Japanese theater, and my Uncle took three machine gun slugs to his leg taking out a German bunker to save some guys in the Bulge under Patton. Us tough guys as you mentioned filled a few cemeteries over in Europe saving your asses twice. This is a sailing forum, not a bash the US forum. You a have something smug to say until your in trouble, then it's HELP.

So typical - SAD.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Palarran

So typical - SAD.

+1

[Nelsons]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I can't believe all 3 replies are negative! One even telling you not to go at all!

Frigging Hell! Its the best cruising ground in the WORLD! Its just a strong mans spit from Florida and has supermarkets VASTLY SUPERIOR to anything in the USA.

How to get there: do not, I repeat, do not read Thorny Path or similar books. They really are advocating the most horrendously difficult method to get south.

Go to the Bahamas, have fun. Fuel up in Georgetown and wait till a norther or NE and motor west to 65w then turn south to the BVIs. You are at sea for a week. (Thorny path is a year). Then slowly go down the chain and spend hurricane season in Grenada. Repeat BVIs to Grenada till you die.

Remember: we have supermarkets.
Yes we have coffee, Grenada even grows it!
Yes we have chocolate, Grenada grows it.
Yes we have toilet paper.
Yes we have rum ... premium top shelf 1 itre for $10. Try to find that in the USA.
Good French Bordeaux $5 per bottle.
Beer at waterfront bar $2

Great comment, totally agree

[hpeer]

We are new to the Bahamas and Carribean. We have a big ol heavy steel 44’ cutter. Slow but comfy.

2016/2017 we left NC, went to Fort Worth, then crossed to the Bahamas and did the Abacos, Cat Island, San Salvador, Georgetown before returning to Jacksonville to over winter.

2017/2018 we left Jacksonville Dec 15, got stuck in Vero waiting for weather, crossed early Jan and transited to Georgetown. Got stuck there waiting for weather. Hard bash to Mayaguana where we had days of high winds. Washed off some Treadmaster enroute. Then a couple of quick hops to Luperon, DR where we stayed for almost a month. A big window opened so we headed through the Mona Passage and motored down to Salinas, PR. Spent a couple of weeks there. A quick trip through the VIs and then down to St Kitts. By then things were getting late so we moved through the islands without long stays, but enough to give us a sense of the place. Put the boat up in Granada for the season.

Heading back shortly, we will most likely stay in the more mountainous islands and visit more lesiurely this coming season.

We are 67 and 65. My wife is prone to seasickness, she pushed her tolerance a few times but we made it. Thankfully we had an easy run DR to PR. Georgetown to DR was really tough. I felt I pushed our safety window and felt uncomfortable. You really have to watch your weather for there are not a lot of great sheltered anchorages. I found the guides were sometimes overly optimistic about a location, or maybe I didn’t get the nuanced warnings. Also exiting the Caicos Banks was a washing machine for a few miles.

We met other younger eager couples who turned back due to conditions. It kinda wears you down. I would have preferred the Route 66 except we really wanted to do DR and my Wife hates to do overnights. Our boat is not weatherly and we motor sailed all the way to St Kitts and beyond. Only the last few islands did we really sail.

It was a good trip and not bad once we got to DR. Although we had an exceptionally calm Mona crossing and dead flat up the S coast of PR. At the same time the N coast was experiencing extreamly heavy surf with 17’ seas off shore. At that instant we were glad to have not done the off shore route.

We had made berthing arrangements in Grenada before leaving the states. First we wanted a physical berth, but we also found out some insurance companies will only insure a certain number of boats in a given location. We got the last “insurance berth” from our company in Grenada. There may be other ways around that, don’t know.

I think that given the situation in Venezuela your cruising grounds may be limited during hurricane season. I don’t think I’ll be giving up Easting easily until we commit to stay a year or two in the Western Carib.

Good luck.